This iOS 12 Concept Explores AR, Smart Notifications And More

We are just days away from the WWDC 2018, where we will likely get the first peek at the iOS 12. Amid all the speculations about what the iOS 12 would be like, Michael Calcada – a fourth-year design student at York University and Sheridan College in the Toronto, Canada area – has come up with the iOS 12 concept, which includes everything from AR possibilities to the smart notification and much more.

Termed as iOS AR, Calcada’s iOS 12 concept unleashes a string of tech creativity. The concept introduces smart notifications for those who have been complaining about a less than ideal notification system in Apple’s OS. Calcada’s iOS 12 concept allows users to place all their apps on the homescreen and scroll up and down to access them.

Image Source: michaelcalcada.com (screenshot)

“Ultimately adding augmented reality to the home screen, redesigning the notification experience, adding customization and improving control center, fixing continuity throughout iOS, introducing dark mode, improving gestures and redesigning apps to be more user friendly are the areas I chose to address,” Calcada says of the iOS 12 concept.

Calcada’s concept also envisions an all-new “Siri Sight” augmented reality mode. The AR mode overlays useful information about landmarks, stores, transit stops, other points of interest and more, in addition to real-time information such as road closures. “I integrated AR into the core of the iOS experience, providing new innovative and intuitive ways to interact with your digital and physical worlds at once,” said Calcada.

Further, Calcada noted that the concept aims to fix the usability problems with the current version of the iOS by adding in-demand features to enhance the functionality along with adding new features that create a new and more personal experience between a user and their iPhone.

Separately, there are rumors that with the iOS 12, the Cupertino, California-based company would enable the developers to explore the iPhone’s NFC chip. If such a feature is introduced, users would have so many interesting options, such as using the iPhone top to open up hotel room doors and as a physical transit card replacement.

Other than the NFC buzz, there are not many details on the upcoming iOS version. Reports are that the iOS 12 would primarily focus on under-the-hood improvements, while the more concrete improvements are being withheld until the iOS 13.

Many believe that the iOS, over the years, has degraded on many fronts, be it performance, stability, bugginess or usability. Since the debut of the original iOS in 2007, Apple has added numerous features based on the demand of the users, combat Android and sometimes to move forward its own agenda, such as Apple Music and the Health App.

However, many believe that the operating system has relegated from being smart to being redundant, more clutter with less useful functions. With Apple expected to introduce the iOS 12 at the WWDC in June, users are hoping that the company would finally pay heed to their demands.

Apple possibly faces a bigger task than what Microsoft was facing with Windows. Although Windows had some issues with the user interface, it never suffered from the stability issue and bugginess that the iOS is currently facing.

So, users will be hoping that Apple would go beyond the cosmetic changes and add important features such as group chats in FaceTime. As of now, FaceTime allows only 1:1 chats, which seems primitive when compared to other chat apps like WhatsApp and Hangouts. Also, Apple needs to soften its stance on not letting the users make default apps of their choice. It’s not just the case with the mail app, but the calendar and photos also suffer from similar issues.

Meanwhile, with just days left for the release of the iOS 12 beta, the iOS 11 is getting one last upgrade with the roll-out of the iOS 11.4 update. With the iOS 11.4, users get the Messages in the Cloud and AirPlay 2 to iPhone and iPad, a long-awaited feature announced during the WWDC event last year.

With the update, the AirPlay 2 brings multi-room and stereo HomePod support, similar to Google Cast and Amazon Alexa. Now, you can tell Siri which room to play the music in, but like the AirPlay 1, the new version is also dependent on the iPhone, notes The Verge. The Messages in the Cloud is another feature that lets you sync iMessages across all the Apple devices that run iOS and macOS. All the messages can be stored in the cloud, relieving the internal storage and gives the option to delete a message on all the devices at once.

Author: Aman JainAman is MBA (Finance) with an experience on both Marketing and Finance side. He has worked as a Risk Analyst for AIR Worldwide, and is currently leading VeRa FinServ, a Financial Research firm. Favorite pastimes include watching science fiction movies, reviewing tech gadgets, playing PC games and cricket. - Email him at amanjain@valuewalk.com